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Missoula shooting victim Shelley Hays remembered

Posted at 1:36 PM, Mar 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-20 15:36:51-04

MISSOULA – He was the glue that bonded his family; a man who could make friends with strangers and a father who loved his little girl.

Friends are remembering 28-year-old Shelley Hays, a victim in last week’s deadly shooting rampage in Missoula, a crime that killed him and wounded three other people including a Montana Highway Patrol trooper.

But even as loved ones try to understand his death, they’re remembering his life as a man who never did anything halfway, a man who worked hard as a mechanic and eventually opened his own auto repair business. 

He loved fixing and riding fast motorcycles and trucks. And he loved his 5-year-old daughter Cloey.

Shelley Hays grew up in Missoula and cast a wide net of friends and colleagues who can’t believe he’s gone – leaving behind a lifetime of memories.

It’s been difficult for childhood friend Nick Cogar who knows his friend was special.

“He had this personality where he could make a friend out of anybody. You know, somebody’s giving him that long stare like, ‘Not sure,’ and he’d go over there and just make the situation better,” Cogar recalled. “He’d create a conversation and all of a sudden by the time it was over, another friend — you know what I mean? He was always social like that. It didn’t matter where we went he was always making friends.”

You can click here to help Shelley’s family.

Story by Jill Valley, MTN News